Sverre Munthe-Kaas Munck (5 July 1898 – 26 January 1970) was a Norwegian businessperson.

Early life and career

He was born in Høvik as the son of

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

Oskar Albert Munck (1868–1956) and Mathilde Munthe-Kaas (1871–1906). He was also a great-grandson of

Johan Storm Munch Johan Storm Munch (31 August 1778 – 26 January 1832) was a bishop in the Church of Norway. He was also known as a poet, playwright, and magazine editor. Munch was born at Vågå in Oppland county, Norway. He was the son of parish priest P ...

. He grew up in

Øygarden Øygarden is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is an island municipality located in the traditional district of Midhordland, stretching along the west coast of the county. The village of Straume is the administrative centre of the ...

, took his

examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

Frogner School Frogner School ( no, Frogner Høiere Almenskole and subsequently ''Frogner Realskole og Gymnas'', commonly known as ''Frogner skole'') was a secondary school at Frogner in Oslo, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a No ...

in 1916 and a degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at the

Norwegian Institute of Technology The Norwegian Institute of Technology (Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was m ...

in 1921. In October 1925 he married Elisa Margrethe "Lisken" Anthonisen. Their son Oskar A. Munck became best known among their children. In 1924 he founded his own company, which came to be known as Sverre Munck Elektro-Mekanisk Industri. After a time of struggle, the company profited from the upward economic cycles of the late 1930s and the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

period. The main products were cranes,

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

s and

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

, but also

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es and

excavator Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression fro ...

s. The company had production facilities in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

Fusa Fusa () is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. It existed from 1856 until its dissolution in 2020. It was located east of the city of Bergen in the Midhordland region. The administrative centre of the municipality was the ...

, Bøvågen,

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

and

Langesund is the administrative centre of the municipalities of Norway, municipality of Bamble, Norway. The town of Langesund was established as a municipality 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was merged with Bamble 1 January 1964. In the ...

, and also expanded abroad.

Later career

In 1946 Munck passed down the management of the company to his sons. He continued as chairman of the board. He was a local chairman and national board member of the Norwegian Engineer Association. In 1967 he bought the newspaper ''

Morgenposten ''Morgenposten'' is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1861 to 1971. It was the largest newspaper in Norway from the 1870s until the early 1900s, when its name was ''Christiania Nyheds- og Avertissements-Blad'', also nicknamed ''Sv ...

'', which until then had been owned by the semi-secret libertarian organization

Libertas Libertas (Latin for 'liberty' or 'freedom', ) is the Roman goddess and personification of liberty. She became a politicised figure in the Late Republic, featured on coins supporting the populares faction, and later those of the assassins of Jul ...

. During Libertas' ownership, the former editor-in-chief Asbjørn Engen had reportedly "politicized" the formerly "apolitical" newspaper. Munck's own political views has been described as idiosyncratic. He was a supporter of politician Bertrand Dybwad Brochmann during the 1930s. He was an opponent of national socialism, but also socialism and trade unionism. He was a strong proponent of individual "spiritual" development, and of a "quality democracy" instead of a "mass democracy". ''

Norsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia. The first edition (NBL1) was issued between 1921 and 1983, including 19 volumes and 5,100 articles. It was published by Aschehoug with economic support from the state. bought the rights to ...

'' notes that "often, he was not understood" as a public debater. Similarly, his takeover of Libertas was not regarded well by everyone. The editor-in-chief who replaced Engen shortly before Munck's takeover, Christian leader Per Voksø, resigned with immediate effect in March 1967. Much of the staff followed. After a stint with Gunnar Kristiansen as acting editor-in-chief, Munck took over as editor, and sat until 1969. He was succeeded by Leif Husebye, sports editor who had remained with the newspaper during the 1967 tumults. Munck continued as newspaper owner, but died in January 1970 in Oslo. ''Morgenposten'' suffered from a downward trend, and ultimately went defunct in 1971.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munck, Sverre 1898 births 1970 deaths People from Øygarden Norwegian electrical engineers Norwegian company founders Norwegian newspaper publishers (people) Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian Institute of Technology alumni Businesspeople from Bergen Engineers from Bergen